Hooker Du Plessis cautious of Scots
THE ever-combative Bismarck du Plessis rarely dishes out compliments to the opposition but the Springbok hooker did not hold back when asked which game had given his team its biggest fright this season in their eight wins from 10 matches.
“That game against Scotland in Nelspruit was a serious wakeup call for us,” Du Plessis said ahead of Sunday’s second tour match against the self-same Scots at Murrayfield.
“Of all the matches we have played this year, no team has destroyed us at the breakdowns like Scotland did that day, and we have been on a mission since then to sort out that department of our game; and to be fair to us, it has improved.”
The Boks trailed 17-6 in the second half to the irrepressible Scots and had to fight for their lives in the final quarter to come back to win 30-17.
Scotland coach Scott Johnson flamboyantly said after the match that his team “had been robbed” in reference to the sinbinning of influential lock Jim Hamilton for over-robust play and a penalty try against his team that galvanised the Boks into a fightback.
Johnson, a no-holds-barred Australian, said: “We deserved to win. We were the better team on balance of play.”
Well they were for threequarters of the match, but rugby is played over 80 minutes. Still, the Scots did enough that day to scare the living daylights out of Heyneke Meyer in the Lowveld town where he grew up and which he still calls home, and his knee-jerk reaction was to hire renowned Scottish breakdown specialist Richie Gray. (Not the Richie Gray who will play lock against the Boks on Sunday. Two men of the same name, but different Scots.)
“No team we have played this season has given us such a hard time at the breakdown, including the All Blacks, but that was only our second Test of the year and over the course of the season we have improved in this area,” said Du Plessis, who played off the bench that day behind Adriaan Strauss.
Scotland came with a plan to attack the Boks at the breakdowns and were technically better in this area, and with physical commitment to match their plan, they ensured the Boks got slow ball when they were attacking.
Enter Gray, who played provincial rugby in Scotland but never made it to international level.
Boks defence coach John McFarland says: “It was because of that Nelspruit game that we got a Scottish breakdown coach. The one thing Scotland have always been able to do over the years is to ruck teams off the ball.
“If you look at the improvements Richie has made in our game over the course of the Rugby Championship, you will understand why we are so pleased.”
The breakdown is a massive part of the game in the northern hemisphere because they have more of them due to heavy conditions underfoot, and referees allow the breakdowns to continue longer than is the case in the southern hemisphere, where the breakdowns are much quicker.
And with the 2015 Rugby World Cup being held in England, the Boks are profiting from what Gray is teaching them.
“Our protection of the ball is much better when we are attacking, and defensively we have better emphasis on line speed in getting to the breakdown to stop the opposition slowing our ball down, not to mention better technique in approaching the tackle,” McFarland said.